While I was pinning one Sunday morning, my three year old climbed up on my lap and was very interested in what I was looking at. So we ended up making a board for him where he could pin anything he wanted. Well, 99% of what he pinned ended up being sweet treats, go figure! But I realized that it gave us a lot to talk about and we could work on many skills such as increasing vocabulary, asking and answering questions, and using correct grammar.

I also thought about the children I have worked with that had poor organizational skills and how Pinterest could be a fun way to help them develop their organizational skills. For example, several boards with different topics could be created such as ‘cool trucks’, ‘yummy foods’, ‘animals’, ‘toys’, etc. and then the child with his caregiver could find pictures to go into each category. This could also be used to work at the level of sub-categories if that is where a child needed help. So instead of animals, there could be ‘farm animals’, ‘zoo animals’, ‘water animals’, and ‘pets’ boards. Or for a child learning his colors, you could have a ‘blue’ board, a ‘red’ board, etc. and pin links by color.

I’m sure this just the beginning of ideas we can all come up with of using Pinterest as a fun activity to help children in their development! Next week, look for some reading lists in the various categories of books I have mentioned in past blogs. Happy Pinning!

We have the Curious George Thanksgiving book and I will say it is definitely for an older preschooler (3-4 years of age) as it is really a collection of short stories about Thanksgiving topics such as a parade, cooking dinner, serving dinner, and crafts. The neat part of it is that each story has a pictorial tab on the side of the book, making a table of contents of sorts. So it is a great visual way of teaching older preschoolers about the concept of a table of contents.

If you want to start to teach your younger child about the history of Thanksgiving, you could pick up a copy of “The First Thanksgiving, A Lift-the-Flap Book” by Nancy Davis. The text is simple and rhymes and there are many flaps (more than just one a page) through out.

For a 3-4 year old, you could pick up “The Story of Thanksgiving” by Nancy Skarmeas, which has more text but still keeps the story pretty simple. There were other books about the history of Thanksgiving for older children (5 and up) as well.

Finally, I had to pick up “I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie” because not only is just plain fun, but it is a great way to teach children the names of different foods they might eat on Thanksgiving. Food vocabulary is likely to come up much more often than historical vocabulary (e.g., Pilgrims, Native Americans, etc) when you talk about Thanksgiving. This book would fall under the category of Expanding Repetitive Line books so the repetition makes it a great way to teach language. And a little tip: I just change “die” as in “perhaps she’ll die” to “cry” as “die” just seems a little over the top in a fun, preschool book.

Would love to hear if anyone else has some favorite Thanksgiving books. Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Reading!

Scholastic books are often deeply discounted (usually there is a $1 book per flyer) and the flyers contain almost every popular children’s book, and often sell them in groups, which further discounts the price. This is the same company that often has book fairs in elementary schools. I like flipping through the flyers each month and circling what I want (and then going back through and crossing some out because I realized I circled too much!). But don’t worry if your child does not attend preschool or attends one that does not send the flyers home because you can still buy the books at their on-line store. In fact, I was just looking at their web-site (which you can find to the right) and it is easy to search for books by age, character, series, and type of product. They also have a new releases section. (Christmas shopping, anyone?) AND if you go to their home page, they have links to great ideas on developmental activities for teachers and parents, so that’s an extra bonus!

This weekend I am going to hit some bookstores and the library to find some good Thanksgiving books to write about next week. (Target did not have any, boo…). Until then, happy reading!

So what are storybooks? These are books that have a setting (e.g., home, the jungle, an ice cream shop, etc), characters (e.g. Curious George, Goldilocks, a baby, etc.), and a sequence of events, including an introduction, climax, and conclusion. Today, I am going to talk about a few simple storybooks that are good to start with.

When choosing a book, it’s good to start with storybooks that are set in places familiar to your child such as the home, the park, preschool, etc. If your child has never been to a zoo, then choosing a first storybook that is set at a zoo is probably not going to be very meaningful to her. However, once your child has read many storybooks with you, it is appropriate to introduce books with unknown settings to broaden her knowledge of the world. If you are soon planning on visiting a new place, such as a zoo, a storybook can also be a good way to prepare the child for that visit.

The other important thing to think about is how much text is on each page. In general, starting with books that have just one sentence per page is probably appropriate and then work up to a paragraph per page as the child matures. However, there will always be kids who can sit through and enjoy a long storybook at a very early age.

So, being mindful of the setting and the amount of text per page, I chose the following three books as good beginning storybooks: “Baby Talk” by Judy Hindly, “The Three Bears”, adapted by a variety of authors, and “Goodnight Gorilla” by Peggy Rathmann.

We stumbled upon “Baby Talk” at the library when my oldest son was not even one and he fell in love with it. We then bought it for him for his first birthday and it was his favorite gift. It is actually published in London, so you will have to change a couple words while reading it as they call a diaper “a nappy” and mommies “mummies”. The main character is a baby and the story follows the baby through the day from getting ready in the morning to an outing at the park to dinner, bath and bedtime back at home. (Obviously, something a young child can relate to.) The text is simple and rhyming and it’s a great book for leaving off the last word on each page to have the child fill in. This way, you can target the words ‘up’, ‘out’, ‘there’, ‘all gone’, ‘night-night’ and other early developing words. The pictures are line drawings in full color with simple backgrounds so they are not too busy.

“The Three Bears” is a classic that many people know and is a lot of fun to read using different voices for the papa bear, mama bear, and baby bear. Again it is set in a home so the vocabulary is very familiar to little ones. It even follows a more classic story sequence with an introduction, “Once upon a time”, a climax of the three bears finding Goldilocks in the bed, and a conclusion of the Goldilocks running away and “the three bears never saw little Goldilocks again”. It also contains repetitive lines, which encourages your child to join in the storytelling.

My last choice, “Goodnight Gorilla”, is unique in that it actually has very few words, rather the pictures tell the story so it’s really up to the reader to determine the amount of language and the vocabulary to tell the story. But it does follow a traditional story sequence. The zookeeper is locking up for the night, but the gorilla steals his keys (it’s always a member of the monkey family, isn’t it?) and lets all the animals out, who then follow the zookeeper home and crawl into (and around) bed with him. The climax is when his wife realizes her bedroom is full of animals and marches them back to the zoo. The book concludes with that naughty gorilla climbing back into bed with her.

These are just a few examples to get you started, so look around your house or the local library to see what else might be similar. Happy Reading!

But why read Halloween books? First, there are many books that can help prepare your child for upcoming events such as wearing a costume, attending parties, and going trick or treating. If you think about it, these events are very different than normal every day life and some children benefit from some extra preparation (see my blog on social stories). Second, there is a lot of new vocabulary that comes along with Halloween and the more your child is exposed to it, the more likely that these words will be added to their permanent vocabulary. So reading Halloween books will help reinforce words that may come up this time of year while shopping, taking a walk in your neighborhood, or attending preschool. So from simple to complex, here are some of our favorite Halloween books.

Touch and Feel/Real Photos: Dorling and Kindersley’s “Touch and Feel Halloween” focuses on the descriptors smooth, rough, scratchy, silky, and waxy while showing off different costumes.

Manipulative Book: “Whooo’s That” by Kay Winters is a ‘lift-the-flap’ book where the child opens the pumpkin on each page to see what is hiding behind it (e.g., a black cat, bats, ghosts, etc.)

Simple Storybook: “Five Little Pumpkins”, which is a common children’s poem that has had illustrations added to it to make it into a book.

Counting BooK: “10 Trick-or-Treaters” by Janet Schulman, which follows trick or treaters on Halloween night and one is scared off on each page….”and then there were _____”. Short rhymes on each page make it a fun book to read.

Repetitive Line Book: “The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything” by Linda Williams was mentioned in an earlier blog.

More Complex Story Books: “Curious George Goes to a Costume Party” by Margaret and H.A. Rey and “The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin” by Joe Troiano. The Curious George book is a good introduction to costume parties as it is the first time he attends a costume party and he didn’t know to wear a costume. He then tries on several different costumes from a big trunk of clothes upstairs and of course, gets into a little trouble in the process! The Legend of Spookley tells the story of a pumpkin with ‘different abilities’ and how he ‘saves the day’.

This list is by no means exhaustive so I would love to hear if anyone has any favorite Halloween books not listed. Have a safe and happy Halloween and happy reading!

For our very young ones, Leslie Patricelli has written “No No Yes Yes” and “Yummy Yucky” to teach children appropriate behaviors such as ‘drawing with crayons on the wall’-“No No”, ‘drawing on paper’- “Yes Yes” or “Soup is yummy”, “Soap is yucky”. These have very simple text and pictures.

A newer series that we love at our house is the Llama, Llama series by Anna Dewdney. The characters are Mama Llama and her child, Llama, Llama and the text is written in a rhyme format that kids (and myself) love. Topics covered include going to bed, shopping with mom, and missing mom while at preschool. This series has great pictures, too, and is appropriate for younger preschoolers.

Also for younger preschoolers, Mercer Mayer’s “Little Critter” books cover many topics that children struggle with including emotions, going to the dentist for the first time, finding lost items, going to bed and many others. They contain great pictures that are fun to talk about.

The classic, “Adventures of Frog and Toad” by Arnold Lobel teaches some good lessons. Frog is a pretty upbeat, happy guy and Toad tends to be a ‘glass half-empty’ kind of guy. But together they conquer fears, find lost items, learn about ‘willpower’ so they don’t eat too many cookies, and accomplish many other things. These books are in chapter format and are aimed more towards an older preschooler.

Another new series that is appropriate for older preschoolers is the Ladybug Girl series by David Soman and Jacky Davis. They also have started a spin-off aimed towards boys called “Bumblebee Boy”. They have great pictures, but pretty lengthy text and cover topics associated with playing with friends. Ladybug Girl tends to have a clear vision of how she feels things should happen on play dates and has to learn that is not necessarily how the other children want things to happen.

There are many other books out there that cover similar topics and I would love to hear what books others of you have found helpful! Happy Reading!

Social Stories were originally created to help children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), but really they can help anyone with new or challenging situations. As adults, we often ask questions before going into a new situation about who will be there, what will occur, what our role will be, etc. However, children do not have the ability, yet, to prepare themselves for new situations in this manner so we need a way to help them do this.

A Social Story provides information about the events and social cues that will occur in the situation, how to respond to those cues and events, and reactions that the child might encounter or have expected of him. The goal is for the child to feel more comfortable in the situation and to have appropriate responses for the situation. Reading the story many times before a particular situation occurs allows a child to learn about it in a low pressure manner.

A Social Story may be appropriate for the following situations: going to a birthday party, making new friends at the playground, going to the dentist for the first time, petting a dog, or starting a new school. Or a more general topic such as, personal space or greeting others, may be appropriate and then can be generalized across situations.

Traditional Social Stories are customized to the individual or a specific group such as a classroom and are homemade or made through a web-site on the computer. There are also many mainstream books on the market that address a lot of the above topics and we will talk about those more next week.

If your child typically needs a lot of support in new situations, has delayed language skills, and/or has trouble generalizing skills learned in one situation to another situation, you should probably start with a traditional, customized Social Story instead of picking up a more general one at the bookstore. Here is a sample story that could be used for a child who is having some inappropriate mealtime behaviors.

Homemade Social Story

We eat lunch at the table.
I keep my plate on my placemat.
I keep my cup on my placemat.
I keep my spoon on my placemat.
I use my napkin to wipe my hands and mouth when they get dirty.
I say ‘excuse me’ if I burp.
When I am done, I wipe my hands and mouth.
I take my plate to the sink.

This story could be written out on paper folded into a booklet and illustrated with simple pictures such as a table, a plate on a placemat, a cup on a placemat, etc. Don’t worry about being a great artist, it is the repetition of reading this to your child many times that will help them learn what is expected at lunch. Or you could find pictures on the internet that you could put into a document. Or even better, you could include pictures of your own child doing the above items (if he cooperates!).

I have added some new web-sites to the right about social stories so check those out and next week we will talk about social stories you can find at a bookstore. Happy Reading!

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

Since it is almost Halloween, I will use “The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything” by Linda Williams as an example. The story starts with a little old lady who goes for a walk and encounters a pair of shoes that go “clomp, clomp”. She tells the shoes that she is not scared of them and goes on her way. However, the shoes follow her and she soon comes upon a pair of pants that go “wiggle, wiggle”. She tells the pants she is not afraid of them and goes on her way, but behind her she hears “two shoes go clomp, clomp, and one pair of pants go wiggle, wiggle.” The story continues to build in this way adding on a shirt, two gloves, a hat, and a pumpkin head. The repetition of each line throughout the book is great for teaching children clothing names and kids love to try to say the sounds each article of clothing makes. (I pair an action with each sound, too, to help encourage children who are less talkative to participate). This book also has more traditional repetitive lines such as “I’m not afraid of you” that children learn and start to say along with the reader.

Two of my other favorite books of this genre are “The Jacket I Wear in the Snow” by Shirley Neitzel and “The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly”. “The Jacket I Wear in the Snow” is especially fun for teaching language (once again clothing names) because it contains a rebus (or picture) to represent the clothing in each line of the story. This allows the reader to pause mid-sentence, point to the picture and encourage the child to fill in the target word.

One thing to remember: since these books add a line each page, the text does become quite lengthy by the end of the book. Therefore, you will likely need to wait until your child can sit and listen to a book for close to five minutes before they would be appropriate to introduce.

Next week we will be taking a break from talking about books in order of development and explore ‘social stories’ instead. Happy Reading!

Great Repetitive Line Book!

After I read this book to a child a few times and they have become engaged in it, I will pause before the last word of these two lines to see if the child will fill it in. So I will read “Brown bear, brown bear, what do you” and then pause. If the child does not fill it in, then I will say the word ‘see’ while pointing to my eyes. Sometimes children just need this cue a few times then they will start filling it in themselves. I do the same thing with “I see a _______ looking at” (pause) and then say “me” while pointing at myself if they don’t fill it in themselves. Often, after a few readings of the book this way, the child will start to fill in these words with little prompting. At that point, I then leave off an additional word: “Brown bear, brown bear, what do” (pause) and then prompt the child to say ‘you see’. Before you know it, some children will ‘read’ you most of the book. Other children might enjoy filling in just one or two words for awhile until their language matures more.

There are many books with repetitive lines that you can check out from the library or add to your home library so that you are not chanting “Brown bear, brown bear” in your sleep from reading it so many times! Eric Carle also has “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?” and “Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?” along with a few others. Each one targets different animals. There are also books based on popular children’s songs such as “Five Little Monkeys”, “The Wheels On The Bus” and “Who Took The Cookie From the Cookie Jar?”.

If your child is ready for more of a story book, “We’re Going On A Bear Hunt” is a good repetitive line book to check out. It has seven different repetitive lines, including three that include the spatial concepts: over, under, and through.

As your child starts to learn some simple phrases from these books, start to show them how they can use these phrases in their everyday language. For example, while on a walk, you can model for your child to point out things he sees by saying “I see a tree”, “I see a bird”, etc.

Next week we’ll talk about another kind of repetitive line book: those that build from one line to multiple lines throughout the course of the book. Happy Reading!

Reading in a Bean Bag Chair

Pick the right time of day. Try to figure out when your child is in a calm (or at least calmer than usual) state. It may be when she first wakes up in the morning or from a nap. Or it might be right before bed. Or maybe it is when her belly is full. This will be the best time to introduce books to your child. You can also have books available around the house and see if your child naturally starts to interact with them. “Interact” at this point may mean flipping the pages, taking the books out of a container or standing on them to reach something she is not supposed to have! Regardless, you could use this as an opportunity to engage your child in shared book reading.

Choose the right place. Think about which rooms in your house your child seems calmer in. You may find smaller rooms like a bedroom are better than a large, open kitchen/living area. You may also find that looking at books in a different room than where there are toys, a TV, and other distractions is more successful. A somewhat dark room may help calm your child versus a very bright room.

Sit in the right position. Some children will focus better on books if they are snuggled in tight and others may become agitated if they feel they are being held down. Encouraging children to sit in a bean bag chair or the corner of the couch may help them. You may also want to think about facing your child, if possible, while looking at a book so they can see your mouth better while you name pictures. However, some children may find looking back and forth between your face and the book too distracting.

Think about your reading style. Some children respond to a very animated style of reading with lots of facial expressions, changes in inflection, and sound effects. However, some children will get too excited with an animated style and you may lose their attention. For these children, you may want to use a lower, calming voice with little sound effects. If your child loves music, then singing the lines of the book may be another strategy to try.

Have realistic expectations. When first reading books with your children, you may find that they just want to flip the pages. At this point, I would just try to point to one object on each page and name it for them with the goal being to just slow them down in their flipping. Then once they attend a little longer to each page, you can spend more time pointing out objects and naming them and then every few pages, you can ask your child to point to an object. If they don’t respond, you can gently take their hand and help them point to the picture you named while saying the word again. As your child continues to improve in his attention to books, then you can start to read the actual text on the page, starting with books that have one line per page and eventually moving up to books that have a few sentences or even a paragraph on each page.

Keep in mind, there is no one right way to read books with your child. Instead, think about the above items and how they relate to your particular child and to your family. A process of trial and error may help you figure out what works best. And if you try many of these ideas and still have a child who does not attend to books, you may want to step away from reading books with your child for a few weeks and then try again. Sometimes a break is all that is needed. Happy Reading!